EASL comes of age

MACAU – EASL’s journey into the world of basketball started in 2017 and after wrapping up a second straight home-and-away season here last Sunday, the verdict is it has come of age. The league waded to shore with two pocket tournaments, Super Eight twice and Terrific 12 twice, took a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, reemerged to stage the Champions Week in 2023 then staked a claim on firm ground by reeling off two consecutive home-and-away campaigns.

In the first full season, eight teams participated. In the next, it went up to 10. In the third edition starting in October, there will be 12 teams with Mongolia joining squads from Japan, Korea, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines. EASL CEO Henry Kerins likes to use the word “momentum” to describe the league’s upward growth. The progress is evident with the meteoric rise in sales, revenues, sponsors, views, social media impressions, broadcast partners, fan engagement and attendance.

Last Saturday, EASL held a whole-day summit conference where guest speakers from all over the basketball world went on stage to share their experiences in growing the game. They were franchise owners, team general managers, federation officials, players, coaches, investors and experts in sports technology. SBP executive director Erika Dy participated in a panel discussion where she emphasized from a federation viewpoint, the importance of getting leagues together to grow and share the pie. In another panel, former pro Jay Washington talked about his hoop odyssey from D2 Eckerd College in Florida to the PBA to the Japanese B.League as a 40-year-old Asian heritage import to his current goal of giving back by teaching kids how to play it right. Among those who attended were PSC chairman Dicky Bachmann, PBA 2004 first overall draft pick and MPBL Basilan assistant coach Rich Alvarez, Reelr Sports co-founder Eight Quizon, Reelr Sports head of business development BJ Manalo and former PBA player Sol Mercado.

On the court, EASL rolled out a spectacular sold-out Final Four after a 30-game regular season that went from October to February. In the semifinals, Hiroshima defeated New Taipei, 81-65 and Taoyuan upended Ryukyu, 71-64 last Friday. That set up the showdown for the $1 million first prize between the Dragonflies and the Pilots last Sunday with the curtain raiser a royal duel between the Kings and Golden Kings.

New Taipei and Ryukyu didn’t disappoint. Jeremy Lin put on a dazzling show to finish with a team-high 18 points and four teammates, including younger brother Joe, scored in double figures as the Kings won, 84-80, to claim the $250,000 third prize. The Golden Kings were in the hunt ‘til the end but only Alex Kirk and Keve Aluma did the heavy lifting with a combined 52 points.

The finale, as expected, went down to the wire with both teams playing unforgiving defense. The Dragonflies shut down 7-1 Alec Brown who was scoreless on 0-of-13 but it took an inbound play for Dwayne Evans to hit an unmolested undergoal stab and a steal by Ryu Watanabe in the dying seconds to seal it, 72-68. The fans were the beneficiaries of an outstanding Final Four and EASL CEO Henry Kerins and his staff made it happen. EASL is destined for even bigger things.